"Consensus or majority for good governance ?"

The Central Government is responsible for taking major decisions affecting the country. The successive Governments after the independence were never concerned about consensus when they have a convenient majority to get away with whatever they wanted to do. This is what is done by the two main political parties Congress and BJP. The present NDA Government is no exception to it.

In a democracy, the consensus among the political parties on various major decisions paves the way for the smooth running of administration and good governance. The parties whenever they have an absolute or sufficient majority are relying more upon their majority than consensus. In our country, none of the political parties ever got 50% of popular vote. Is it not the time for the political parties to realise that consensus is more important than a majority for the good of the country?

Well during elections every political party wants to win with comfortable majority so that while taking some important decisions, it should not feel the shortage of members in the house and vote for it. When the government is functioning with minority status with outside support of like minded parties, then the journey would be tough. For the first time in the history,BJP got its own good majority without much depending on NDA partners and thus we could able to see some major decisions by Modi government. Now coming to the point of consensus. How can it be possible when the ideology of the government and the opposition is quite opposite and they wont agree on one platform. Even in the case of choosing the Presidential candidate, NDA did seek the cooperation of other parties to support its candidate. Now the election for President is inevitable and given the electoral college share, NDA going to win hands down and opposition is the looser.K Mohan'Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum "Even this challenging situation would ease

BJP on its own this time got majority and might have formed the government on its own. But with a moral responsibility they honoured the pre election understanding and given participation in governance to all its friendly parties. As mentioned by Mr.K.Mohan, the ideology of parties are different and the ultimate aim of all parties and all leaders is to get into power. In such case if the opposition party accepts or ruling party accepts all the proposals of the others, they are not sure of their winning in the next elections. So nobody will say yes to all proposals.But as you said they can have a consensus in some issues. But it is not happening. President election is one such example.However when congress was in ruling BJP supported their proposal of dividing the combined Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Congress thought that if the state is divided KCR will support them in elections. But after division KCR shown his hand to congress. BJP thought that it will survive and get some seats in Telangana. But the party lost in the KCR wave. None of the parties thought about Andhra. They accepted the bill. It is unanimous.Why I brought out this is when ruling and opposition parties combined they can do more injustice to people. This is the moral of the story. So I never wish for unanimous decisions.drrao always confident

The comments above only prove that the political parties are not arriving at a consensus on major issues due to their narrow political gains. The interests of the country are not a priority for them. Coming to power at any cost is their main interest. Take the case of GST which is hailed as the most historic reform after the country became independent. The GST was vehemently opposed by the BJP when it was in opposition. They stalled the Parliament for more than one year. The GST would have become a reality long time back had the BJP agreed with the Congress. Prime Minister Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat vehemently opposed GST and FDI in the retail segment. Mrs Sushma Swraj as the opposition leader was very vocal against FDI claiming that the farmers and small retailers will be adversely affected. The same people when in power now implemented both and claim that these are good for the country. What was not good when they were opposition became good when they came to power. Why this somersault? They could have come to a consensus with UPA and helped the country a lot. The Congress then and now the BJP are blinded by the majority they have and stalled the progress of the country by a decade.

Coming to the point of Presidential candidate, it would have been better if they arrived at a consensus candidate. The BJP and the opposition are equally responsible for not arriving at a consensus candidate.

The bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Prades into two states is due to Congress and BJP. The BJP announced openly that the combined state will be bifurcated if they are voted to power. The Congress, on the other hand, wanted to take political advantage as the BJP made its intentions clear and the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana emerged. This is not detrimental as the people of Telangana are hell bent on getting their own state.

All these matters could have been solved amicably if only the political parties put the interests of the country above their own interests. The consensus among the political parties is far more important than to depend on their majority and take decisions that affect the country on their own. The demonetization was one move which was implemented without much thought and caused hardship to the people. In the case of GST also, the preparedness of the Government is said to be not sufficient. The consumers will not be much affected as the traders. The problem arises when the GST returns are to be submitted. The software for the is said to be not ready. Many clauses require proper notifications. Let us hope for the best." Be Good and Do Good "

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